question about CTO orders

[ghanwani]

Does anyone know how the CTO process works?

- I order a machine and it arrives at the store and I cancel my order.
- Someone else places an order for an identical configuration.
- Will the machine be reassigned to them or would it end up being sent back to an Apple warehouse?

Here's the background. I did place an order but neglected to use a gift card from a trade in. I thought that the store would be able to apply it at the time of pick up. Turns out they cannot. They say the only option is to return the machine and place a new order and it'll take a week or whatever it normally does for the new order to show up. Or I can just buy whatever is available in store (1.4/8G/256G), but I can't buy back the unopened machine that I just returned (1.4/16G/512G) because that is not a machine they are allowed to sell.

The gift card is for $710 so I'd rather not be sitting on it. But it's looking like I will have to go another week without it.

I can live without the machine but it's going to be painful!

 

[maflynn]

- Will the machine be reassigned to them or would it end up being sent back to an Apple warehouse?

It will probably just go back to the warehouse to wait for re-assignment.

I thought that the store would be able to apply it at the time of pick up.

They won't handle a return/rebuy of the same laptop?

but I can't buy back the unopened machine

I guess you answered my question - that's weird.

The gift card is for $710 so I'd rather not be sitting on it.

I would bite the bullet and do the return and order what you need. If you need 512GB of storage, then definitely don't compromise on getting a 256GB, you'll regret it.

 

[ghanwani]

I would bite the bullet and do the return and order what you need. If you need 512GB of storage, then definitely don't compromise on getting a 256GB, you'll regret it.

This is the one that's hard to figure out. 99% of the time my usage is very light and my current SSD usage is around 100G including the OS. If I buy 8 GB of RAM and start seeing beachballs when I am in the midst of a busy session, then it will bring up regret. As far as SSD, I think I would be OK with 256 GB. I had 512 GB on my previous machine and it felt like a waste. On the other hand, bigger SSD is usually faster so maybe there is some benefit even if underutilized.

FWIW, when I was looking for quotes to trade in my 2017, Gazelle did not even consider the RAM and SSD upgrades, while Phobio (Apple's trade in partner) considered only the SSD. This is based on the questions being asked. Gazelle's offer was $110 less.